A council in StarClan determined that a threat will be facing the Clans. Firestar convinced them to send the sign to Willowpaw of ThunderClan.

Willowkit's siblings (Jaykit and Pouncekit) are very ill and their mother, Hollyheart, constantly worries about them. That same day whilst all the kits were napping, Jaykit began to choke (combination of swollen throat and phlegm). Best friends Frostkit and Willowkit are ushered out of the nursery and join Frostkit's mother and sister: Fernbelly and Pondkit, respectively.

Willowkit and Frostkit sneak away and find a secret place to spy on the nursery, where they overhear Fawndapple trying to save the choking Jaykit. Alas, there was nothing she could do and he died. Willowkit and Frostkit sneak back to Fernbelly. She tells the kits of Firestar's legacy and his deeds. Willowpaw is in awe of the great leader and it takes her mind off of Jaykit.

In the subsequent moon, Willowkit's only other sibling (Pouncekit) dies. Hollyheart and her mate Oakfur are deeply saddened by this, Hollyheart sinking into depression. She continues to blame Fawndapple for not doing enough. Meanwhile, Pondkit shows interest in becoming a medicine cat.

Badgerstar gathers the Clan for the kits' apprentice ceremony. Hollyheart's spirits lift as she watches her only kit become an apprentice. Willowpaw's mentor is Brightblossom, a young and enthusiastic she-cat. Frostpaw's mentor is Ashpelt, a rather aloof tom. Pondkit becomes a medicine cat apprentice to Fawndapple.

Brightblossom and Ashpelt take their apprentices on a tour of ThunderClan territory. Ashpelt offers an apathetic explanation of the fellow Clans.

When they return to camp, the friends regroup with Pondpaw and share stories about their first day as 'paws. After chatting and eating, Willowpaw and Frostpaw head to the apprentices den for shut eye. Upon entering, the other apprentices' conversation abruptly halts.

The next day, the mentors gather all the apprentices for a group training session on identifying scents. Willowpaw is apt and picks up the skill quickly. After the others take their turns, the group returns to camp.

The dawn patrol arrives very late back and immediately goes to talk to the leader, Badgerstar. Willowpaw tries to overhear their conversation and picks up traps. The Clan leader calls a meeting to announce the presence of twoleg traps in the forest and mandates that no cat is to venture in the woods alone.

Willowpaw, Frostpaw and Pomdpaw are selected to go to their first gathering. They see the other Clans in person for the first time and find that even leaders aren't above occasional grudges. Badgerstar announces the appearance of traps in ThunderClan territory.

Later, the friends go out for a training session. They practice defensive and offensive moves. Willowpaw initially struggles before Brightblossom offers a few words of guidance. Willowpaw and Frostpaw then try a mock battle, in which she is losing until a clever idea springs into her head. The gray tabby uses a tree trunk to pounce on her friend and finish the fight, despite it being an unconventional end.

In the process, she gets a thorn in her paw. So once the fight was over, the mentors decide to head back to camp.

The apprentices fall behind and chat, where Frostpaw applauds her friend for such a clever tactic and they play around.

Suddenly, they hear a screech from up ahead and Ashpelt orders them to fetch Badgerstar.

The apprentices exchange a glance and blunder back to camp. Upon returning, they frantically call for their leader, alerting the rest of the Clan in the process.

Badgerstar emerges from his den and assembles a patrol to investigate.

Frostpaw being Frostpaw, she wanted to sneak behind and follow. And in accordance to Willowpaw's personality, she tried to talk her friend out of the horrible decision, which to no one's surprise, didn't work. And after some conflicting thoughts, Willowpaw caught up with her before she had gotten into too much trouble.

They stumble upon a gruesome scene. Brightblossom has her leg caught in some sort of trap and the aforementioned patrol is squabbling over what they're going to do.

Foxtooth notices the two and tries to send them back to camp. Frostpaw protests that they could be of use and Badgerstar just lets them stay.

The deputy, Scarletfang, devises a plan-- by using some sticks, they could pry open the trap wide enough to allow Brightblossom to pull her leg out.

Willowpaw is overcome with horror at seeing her mentor in so much agony. Hoping it will quell her worries, she quickly joins the search.

They find several sticks and with the help of a couple of warriors, they manage to get Brightblossom out.

When they return to camp, she is rushed to the medicine den and Willowpaw gets her thorn removed from her paw. She splits a piece of prey with Frostpaw and her friend suggests that there are more traps, and there must be a way to disable them.

Willowpaw worries that the traps will be the end of the Clan.

She is woken early the next morning by Frostpaw, who convinces her friend to be her partner in crime in disabling a trap. before dawn, they sneak out of camp and go into the woods.

Frostpaw discovers one while Willowpaw is too frightened to focus on her search.

They run across Sunpaw, Woodpaw and Birdpaw, who are surprised to see the two she-cats skulking around as well. They stare at each other before promising not to mention either of their expeditions to anyone.

Willowpaw finds a trap and Frostpaw explains her plan. She takes a pebble and drops it on the trap's pressure plate, snapping shut the jaws.

The two are very eager to tell Badgerstar of their accomplishments and race back to camp, forgetting the encounter with Birdpaw's posse.

The leader is impressed by their clever thinking but reprimands them for acting against his direct orders. He sighs and calls yet another Clan meeting.

As the cats gathered around highrock, Beeflight, Sunpaw's mentor, asks Willowpaw about his whereabouts. The two apprentices' thoughts flash back to when they spotted him earlier.

But a promise is a promise.

They lied, telling him that they hadn't seen the other apprentices at all that morning.

Willowpaw found her mother and sat beside her as Badgerstar announced Frostpaw & Willowpaw's discovery. The Clan cheered and exchanged wowed glances.

Badgerstar also announces the formation of a new patrol - trap breakers. Their job is to hunt out as many as they can and use Frostpaw's technique to debilitate them.

After the meeting, Willowpaw's mother applauds her for her ingenuity but frets about being careful. With a last nuzzle she pads away, leaving Willowpaw glowing with pride. She felt famous.

After chatting with Frostpaw and the recently-returned Sunpaw, Willowpaw excuses herself to go to the medicine den. Her mentor, Brightblossom was still resting under Fawndapple's care.

Brightblossom says her wound is getting better, but she is bored out of her mind. Confined to the den, there 's nowhere to stretch her legs. Fawndapple begins redressing her wound and asks Willowpaw to leave.

Willowpaw then remembers why she came to begin with and excitement overcame her. She tells how her and Frostpaw figured out a way to render the traps useless.

Instead of leaping with joy, Brightblossom exhibits concern and disbelief. She worries that her apprentice could have ended up like herself or even worse.

Feeling slightly disappointed in her reaction, Willowpaw bids goodbye to her mentor and goes out into camp. She finds Frostpaw bragging to the other apprentices about their expedition. Before she could catch up, Driftbreeze asks Frostpaw to join the first trap patrol.

Willowpaw joked to Sunpaw and Woodpaw about Frostpaw's newfound fame while Birdpaw managed to distance herself from the conversation.

Willowpaw decides to take a nap in the refreshing sunshine. Just a little shut eye.

It didn't last long. Ashpelt rudely wakes her up and assigns her to a hunting patrol.

Much later, she returns to her den and collapses in exhaustion. Just before falling asleep, she feels a burst of pride. If she kept this up, nothing was stopping her from becoming a warrior quicker!

----

Half a moon later, Willowpaw and Frostpaw are on patrol. Sootclaw warns everyone to be careful; ShadowClan scent was recently found straying across the border.

They come across a ShadowClan patrol, just as they feared. With some barbed words, a fight breaks out.

Frostpaw and Willowpaw end up battling a ShadowClan apprentice. When Willowpaw raked her claws along the enemy's side, she cringed and it took the fight out of her. Because she lost her focus, the ShadowClan cat slammed her to the ground and ripped her ear.

Fortunately, Frostpaw was right there. She saved her friend and held the cat at bay.

In an unexpected turn of events, Frostpaw became the one pinned. Just as the apprentice was about to deal some serious damage to her, Willowpaw felt a wave of rage overcome her. She launched herself at her and had the opportunity to take her revenge.

But it was her reflection that prevented this. In a brief moment, she saw herself in the cat's eyes. And Willowpaw realized that she looked like a monster.

Her hesitation allowed the enemy to scratch her one more time before escaping. Somehow, it didn't register. The image was still searing in her mind.

Sootclaw called a retreat on the ThunderClan side and the warriors reassembled just beyond the clearing, bloodied and dispirited.

Frostpaw realizes that Willowpaw is not feeling well and lays off the jokes. She tells her father, Sootclaw and he gathers up the patrol again to lead them home.

On the way back to camp, Frostpaw complimented Willowpaw on her fighting. Yet Willowpaw knew that she had done awful, freezing up in the middle of combat like that. She tells Frostpaw she couldn't hurt the apprentice. It made her skin crawl when her claw broke skin.

Willowpaw worries that this could be the end of her warrior training.

As Sootclaw emerges back at camp, Driftbreeze instantly rushes over and demands an explanation.

Willowpaw is immediately sent to the medicine den. While she heads over, a soft breeze brings back memories from the nursery. She thinks about her deceased brother, Jaykit and if he is watching over her from among the stars.

Her distant thoughts are shattered by Frostpaw, who bounds up and accompanies her. Pondpaw greets her sister and Willowpaw and is shocked at their wounds. Fawndapple comes over and helps patch up their scratches and bites, giving Willowpaw a poppy seed to calm her anxiety.

Under Fawndapple's orders, the gray tabby curled up in one of the nests to rest. Though before she had the chance to slip into a peaceful dozing, an even more frightening image of herself flashed through her head.

She toyed with the idea of taking a walk to clear her mind. Then her mother, Hollyheart brushed inside the den, followed closely by Oakfur. They told her how proud they were of their daughter and congratulated her on how well she fought.

Once they leave, Willowpaw seeks out her mentor. Brightblossom was found sharing prey with another warrior. Willowpaw steals her away for a moment and the two discuss the apprentice's worries.

Brightblossom reassures her that she has nothing to fret over. She goes as far to offer extra battle training before dawn, which Willowpaw accepts graciously.

The chapter ends with reignited hope that Willowpaw will be ready next time a fight comes along.

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Hello everyone, I'm back! Currently I am on spring break, so as promised, I'm getting a lot of writing done. It's been forever since the last update so I decided to create a recap for you guys, which might save you some time. I know its written a little poorly, but I wanted to be very brief so I could finally get to the new chapter that I'm working on. And that won't be written poorly, I assure you.

In the media is a chart showing the family tree of the two main protagonists - Frostpaw and Willowpaw. Note that Pouncekit and Jaykit are deceased.

Oh and the next few chapters will be getting good, so get ready! heh heh